Many employers are betting that the Affordable Care Act's requirement that all Americans have health insurance starting in 2014 will bring more people into their plans who have previously opted out. That, along with other rising expenses, is prompting companies to raise workers' premium contributions, steer them toward high-deductible plans and charge them more to cover family members.

The changes as companies roll out their health plans for 2014 aren't solely the result of the ACA. Employers have been pushing more of the cost of providing health insurance on to their workers for years, and firms that aren't booking much sales growth due to the sluggish economy are under heavy pressure to keep expenses down.

A quirk of the Affordable Care Act could make it more appealing for companies to raise rates for family coverage than for individuals, said Vivian Ho, a Rice University health-care economist.

Starting in 2015, companies employing 50 or more people must offer affordable health-care coverage to anyone working 30 hours a week or more. But affordability is measured using the cost of individual coverage, capping the cost at 9.5% of income, Ms. Ho said. Raising family rates could help companies recoup costs without running afoul of that limit, she said.

Gannett Co., which owns more than 80 newspapers and 23 television stations, expects one factor in its increased health costs to be the addition of more employees to its insurance plans due to the ACA rules, according to a person familiar with the company's projections.

To address an overall increase in costs, Gannett has replaced the two plans for families it used to offer its workers with a single high-deductible plan that requires employees to pay the first $3,000 of medical costs each year, according to workers at the Indianapolis Star, one of the company's papers. For those with individual coverage, who make up a little over half of Gannett's insurance pool, the figure is $1,500.

The company also scrapped a sliding scale that let lower-income workers pay lower premiums. For some employees, the result was a 60% jump in monthly premiums for family coverage, to $575 from about $360.

Gannett said more than half of its employees will see premiums fall by 12%.

United Parcel Service Inc. made headlines in August when it said that it would bar spouses from its nonunion health plan if they could get coverage at their own jobs. The company said it expected to see an increase in its health-care costs in part from adding employees to its plan who currently opt out.

About 6% of employers ban coverage for spouses who can get it elsewhere, and another 6% impose an explicit surcharge for covering a spouse, according to Mercer. American Electric Power Co., for example, began imposing a $50 monthly surcharge this year to cover spouses with access to insurance at their own workplace. AEP said 92% of its employees usually sign up for coverage, so it doesn't expect a surge of new enrollment.

In another shift this year, companies have become increasingly aggressive about steering employees toward plans in which they pay more of the initial costs for their care in exchange for lower premiums.

Trucking and logistics company Ryder System Inc. has replaced one of its two insurance options with one such high-deductible plan. Ryder is encouraging employees to choose the new option in part by raising the cost of more traditional coverage.

Winners and Losers

Half of Gannett employees will see a 12% drop in premiums. But others will see a 60% rise. And for those who do see premiums decline, the drop will be solely because they are forced into high deductible plans.

Obamacare created a pool of winners and losers, with some of the losers far worse off than before. Many people were hardly affected at all, at least initially. In aggregate, ACA did nothing to lower overall costs, it just shifted costs around in an inefficient manner, making things worse than before.

The most widely reported "success" has been the enrollment of tens of thousands of people into Medicaid. Because of cost sharing that kicks in later, many states are likely to regret that effort.

Monthly payments go up, annual deductible triples or quadruples. You will now pay for all services up to the deductible. Oh wait, abortion and birth control are free. What a great idea!
We all know most marginally paid people have $5,000 to $8,000 in spare cash to cover that deductible each year.
Yes, you pay higher monthly payments, and the insurance pays nothing until you pay your deductible EACH year. What’s not to like/S

3
posted on 12/01/2013 8:53:09 AM PST
by 9422WMR
(: " Tolerance is the virtue of a man who has no convictions".)

Good. The only way this POS law will be overturned is when enough of the idiots who keep voting for the Rats have had enough and vote in politicians who will rescind it.

The problem is, who is going to repeal obamacare? The GOP leadership has shown no sign they will ever go nuclear in opposition to kenyancare. They have steadfastly refused to engage the Dems on kenyancare. There is no reason to believe that will change.

In fact, many of the big GOP donors WANT socialized medicine. What the beltway GOP really day dream about it is “fixing it” and all the lobbyist payola that will generate.

Unless we get a POTUS like Cruz to brow beat the GOPe into repealing it we are stuck with socialized medicine.

Why, all of a sudden, is this abomination called the Affordable Care Act?

Doesn't matter. Obama's name is inextricably linked to it. The Dems should have called it the "Public Health Care Act" or something, because the people are definitely going to scoff at the 'affordable' bit. There is no lipstick available that can dress up this pig.

Starting in 2015, companies employing 50 or more people must offer affordable health-care coverage to anyone working 30 hours a week or more.

"Affordable" means different things to different people, but the median household income in the US was $51,017 in 2012, so a health insurance bill of $20,000 is probably more than a "big ****ing deal" (to quote VP Biden) to most households.

I don't see socialized medicine, I see an epic Chicxulub asteroid impact. (Don't get sick for the next few years!)

9
posted on 12/01/2013 10:25:13 AM PST
by Sooth2222
("Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." M.Twain)

Affordable (in the govenment's eyes) means 9.5% of annual salary compared to the cost of individual coverage. If an employer provides that, then no matter how expensive family coverage is they still can't get subsidized rates on Obamacare. This will be huge because it is people in lower income jobs that tend to have employee only coverage.

I used to think the option was for employees to get their employers to dump coverage, but the penalty is $2000 per employee of your total workforce, even if only one employee is without coverage. It is all or nothing.

LONDON, June 21, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An eminent British doctor told a meeting of the Royal Society of Medicine in London that every year 130,000 elderly patients that die while under the care of the National Health Service (NHS) have been effectively euthanized by being put on the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP),a protocol for care of the terminally ill that he described as a death pathway.

Scaled to the size of the US population...that gives over 750,000 euthanizing events a year.

Affordable (in the govenment's eyes) means 9.5% of annual salary compared to the cost of individual coverage. If an employer provides that, then no matter how expensive family coverage is they still can't get subsidized rates on Obamacare. This will be huge because it is people in lower income jobs that tend to have employee only coverage.

I used to think the option was for employees to get their employers to dump coverage, but the penalty is $2000 per employee of your total workforce, even if only one employee is without coverage. It is all or nothing.

A quirk of the Affordable Care Act could make it more appealing for companies to raise rates for family coverage than for individuals, said Vivian Ho, a Rice University health-care economist.

Well I bought an Individual policy for our 29 year old son when he was 27. We never filed a claim on it. His was cancelled.

The company Health.net offered a new plan at twice the price and deductible going from $4500 a year to $6350 per year. Oh joy! NOT! They added mammograms and birth control pills, and pedicatric vision/dental - none of which can a single MAN use.

19
posted on 12/01/2013 11:09:38 AM PST
by buffyt
(Abortion is murder. It is not a choice, it is a CHILD of GOD.)

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